The father of a Hope College student who died in a January 2010 plane crash filed a lawsuit Monday against the Federal Aviation Administration.

The complaint alleges 20-year-old Emma Biagioni died as a result of negligence of air traffic controllers, who failed to comply with FAA duties. Her father, Peter Biagioni, is the plaintiff in the lawsuit.

Biagioni's friend and the Cessna 172N pilot, 23-year-old David Otai, also perished in the Manlius Township plane crash.

Attorney Mark Kelley Schwartz wrote that Otai sought emergency assistance multiple times during that morning's flight, and each time was provided with either faulty information or no assistance at all.

Otai didn't receive a response to his first attempt to contact the Muskegon Approach controller, because she was away from her desk configuring equipment, the complaint alleges.

The controller responded to Otai's second call about 30 seconds later, which is when Otai stated the airplane was "caught in some fog" and that he wanted radar directions to a runway at Tulip City Airport.

The controller later said she didn't understand what Otai had said, but didn't ask him to repeat it, the complaint alleges.

She gave Otai a radio frequency, which turned out to be the wrong frequency, for contacting the flight service station. When he was unable to reach the station, she gave him a second incorrect frequency, the complaint states.

Nearly four minutes after Otai's first call, the controller said the frequency was wrong, and asked, "but you're wanting to just file a flight plan?"

Otai stated again he was caught in fog and wanted radar directions for Tulip City Airport. He said "was operating under Visual Flight Rules conditions but now had to go in for emergency," Schwartz wrote.

Moments later, the plane crashed in a farm field about four miles south of Tulip City Airport.

A report released in January by the National Transportation and Safety Board stated Otai had less than two hours of training using only visibility instruments to navigate poor weather conditions. He had logged a total of about 320 hours of training.

Ground crew at Tulip City Airport said they were concerned when they saw the pair take off in extremely overcast conditions that day.

A November 2010 NTSB report stated Biagioni, an Illinois native, was text messaging Otai, a Kenyan exchange student, in the hours before the flight because she was concerned he may be too tired to fly.